University of California Cooperative Extension, Yolo County Fuel Their Minds Ideas for Better Eating and Active Play with Young Children 70 Cottonwood St. Woodland, CA 95695 530-666-8720 www.ceyolo.ucdavis.edu [email protected] What’s Your Preschool’s Healthy Environment Score? Physical activity and healthy eating are our strongest defense against childhood obesity. Both eating healthy and living actively can be habits for children to carry on through adulthood. A child's environment helps these behaviors become habits. Take this quiz to see how your preschool’s healthy environment measures up. YES NO 1. Do the meals you serve follow My Plate guidelines? Serve at least three food groups during meal times for a balanced meal. Are you making half the meal choices fruits and vegetables? 2. Are you serving healthy snacks? The less children are exposed to foods with high levels of sugar, salt, and fat, the less they will desire these flavors or junk foods. Are half of the snacks you serve fruits and vegetables? 3. Do you offer healthy beverages? Promote water, non-Fat Milk, and 100% Juice. Avoid fruit drinks that only have 5% or 10% juice, like Sunny Delight or lemonade. Avoid sweetened beverages like Gatorade and soda. 4. Do you provide 60 minutes of structured and unstructured play during the day? Practice physical abilities as a group like running in place, jumping in place, or throwing and catching. This helps them practice basic skills and prepares them for sports like soccer, basketball, and baseball in the future. Allow time for free active play so they can get all their wiggles out. 6. Do you limit screen time? It is important to experience learning and play with out electronics, tablets, phones, or other screens. The less children sit and stare at screens the higher their intelligence and health. Limit TV to a once a week special. 7. Do you have a vegetable or fruit garden? A fruit and vegetable garden is a great way for kids to become involved in nature and food. This allows them to feel engaged and more likely to eat fruits and vegetables in every day life. Choose an area you think you could improve and write yourself one concrete goal to work on here: Adapted from www.letsmove.gov Summer 2015 University of California Cooperative Extension, Yolo County U.C. and U.S.D.A. cooperating Fuel Their Minds Parent Corner Ideas for Better Eating and Active Play with Children 70 Cottonwood St. Woodland, CA 95695 Phone: 530-666-8740 http://ceyolo.ucdavis.edu [email protected] Healthy Celebrations There are many reasons to celebrate throughout the year: birthdays, holidays, and goals met are just a few. Celebrations are fun, bring people together, and create a sense of community. Too often though, our celebrations center around food which includes sugary treats, high fat foods, and inactive activities. When parties occur too often, the celebration is no longer special. This can also lead to overeating. Teach children that celebrating can be fun, healthy, and active. Here are a few ideas on how to celebrate with healthy foods: Add more fruits for color and variety. You can do this by having children make fruits kabobs and adding a yogurt dip, making yogurt parfaits with colorful berries, making a rainbow fruit platter (try to get all the colors of the rainbow with fruits) or offering fresh strawberries with a drizzle of chocolate sauce. Add more vegetables for color and variety: offer carrot and cucumber sticks with a hummus dip, make your own vegetable wraps (tortillas rolled up with shredded carrots, radish, and lettuce with an avocado spread), make a rainbow vegetable platter (try to get all the color of the rainbow with vegetables) or vegetable coins using zucchini and carrots with a salad dressing dip. Offer Agua Frescas, fruit or vegetable infused water, or 100% fruit or vegetable juice instead of high sugar drinks like: sodas, sports drinks, or energy drinks. Add whole grain tortilla chips with fresh guacamole and chunky salsa. Put out sparkling water and 100% juice to mix for a refreshing, bubbly drink. Here are some ideas on how to make the celebration active: Add upbeat music and provide room for everyone to move and dance! Add a game like Miniature Golf, Volleyball, Ping Pong, Soccer, or Frisbee to get everyone up and moving. Add a party game like a scavenger hunt where everyone reads clues to look for hidden items or Charades where partygoers have to act out clues and others guess what they are doing. Add fun activities like Pin the Tail on the Donkey, a Piñata (filled with pencils, erasers, bracelets, and stickers instead of candy), Hula Hooping, or craft tables with painting or drawing projects. For more ideas on healthy celebrations go to: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/Bday/celebrations.html Article adapted from cspinet.org, schoolbites.com, and choosemyplate.gov Summer 2015 University of California Cooperative Extension, Yolo County U.C. and U.S.D.A. cooperating Fuel Their Minds Parent Corner Ideas for Better Eating and Active Play with Children 70 Cottonwood St. Woodland, CA 95695 Phone: 530-666-8740 http://ceyolo.ucdavis.edu [email protected] Celebraciones Saludables Cada año incluye varias celebraciones, como cumpleaños, días festivos, y graduaciones son unos ejemplos. Celebraciones son divertidas, reúnen a gente, y creen comunidad. Usualmente al centro de estas ocasiones existen comidas altas en azúcar, grasa, y poco movimiento físico. Cuando estas juntas ocurren frecuentemente, ya no se sienten especiales. También cuando fiestas ocurren frecuentemente esto puede conducir que su familia come en exceso. Enseñe a sus hijos que celebraciones pueden ser divertidos, saludables, y activos. Aquí encontrara ideas para celebrar con comidas saludables: Aumente sus frutas para color y variedad. Usted puede hacer esto si les ayuda a los niños preparar brochetas de fruta acompañadas con yogur o también puede preparar un plato arco iris de fruta (trate de conseguir todos los colores del arco iris con frutas) o también usted pude ofrecer fresas cubiertas con poquito chocolate. Aumente sus verduras para color y variedad: ofrezca zanahoria y pepino con puré de garbanzos, prepare tacos de verdura (tortillas con zanahoria, rábano, lechuga, y aguacate), prepare un plato arco iris de verduras (trate de conseguir todos los colores del arco iris con verduras) o también puede preparar monedas de verdura usando zanahoria y calabacitas acompañadas con aderezo para ensalada. Ofrezca agua frescas o 100% jugo de fruta o jugo de verdura envés de bebidas que contienen mucho azúcar como: sodas, jugos de deportes, o judos de energía. Sirve papitas de tortilla de maíz, un grano integral, con guacamole y salsa fresca. Sirve agua carbonatada y 100% jugo por si sus invitados quisieran mezclarlos y preparar una bebida burbujeante. Aquí encontrara ideas para celebrar activamente: Incluye música alegre y prepare espacio para que todos pueden moverse y bailar! Incluye juegos como golf, voleibol, tenis de mesa, fútbol, o jugos con el disco volador para animar a la gente que se mueven. Incluye un juego como búsqueda de tesoro para que todos leen pistas y busquen los artículos o un juego de charadas para los que les gustan adivinar y actuar. Incluye actividades divertidas como poner la cola al burro, o pegarle a la piñata (envés de dulces, puedes llenar la piñata con borradores, lápices, pegatinas, y juguetes chiquitos). También puede tener un torneo de hula hoop o mesas llenas de cosas para dibujar y pintar imagines. Para más ideas sobre celebraciones saludables visite: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/Bday/celebrations.html Artículo adaptado por cspinet.org, schoolbites.com, y choosemyplate.gov Verano 2015 Throw and Catch Practice with Fruits and Vegetables Students need physical activity throughout the day. Not only does it help them stay healthy and helps them perform better in school! Physical activity improves cognitive skills, attitudes, and academic behavior. All of which are important for school performance. These include better concentration, memory, and better classroom behavior. Here we have provided a lovely physical activity that includes nutrition education. Try it! Instructions 1. Grab enough bean bags for half the students present. 2. Begin talking about how special fruits are. These are power foods that give us energy and help us grow big and strong. By raising their hands, let students call out some familiar fruits. 3. Create pairs among your group of students in a spacious place (outdoors or indoors). 4. Have each pair face each other and create distance in-between by stretching their arms and stepping back until only their finger tips touch. 5. Tell the students “ we will begin by catching and throwing from this distance, if you are able to catch and throw with out dropping the bean bag, then you and your partner can take a step back, call out a fruit, and repeat!” 6. Once the students have thrown for 2-3 minutes. Have them return to their starting positions and switch partners so that everyone can start over with someone new. Repeat with vegetables when your students are ready. Summer Meals Program It is now super easy for children, parents, and community leaders to find free local summer meal sites near them! Yolo county includes 34 free summer meal sites! The Summer Meal Site Finder is a free online map service to locate free lunches throughout the country. Sites are updated weekly. Type in a city, zip code, or address. The sites nearby will pop up. Click on any blue dot to see location, time, and contact information. Page 2 Check it out! The Spanish and English map can be accessed at: www.fns.usda.gov/summerfoodrocks Summer 2015 Fuel Their Minds 5 Summer Snacking Problems and Solutions 1) Using snacks as rewards. Children learn to love the reward and not like the trigger. Instead of rewarding with sweets or toys, use praise and compliments to encourage healthy choices. butter and apples, which are more nutritious and satisfying than a bag of crackers alone. 4) Lack of structure: Summer is often more relaxed and less structured which can lead to all-day-snacking. Keep a structured meal and snack schedule in the summer. If kids begin snacking all day long, 2) Being unprepared for meals are lost, and hunger and satiety signals active kids that are starving. become fuzzy. Let your kitchen can have Be prepared! Have cut raw vegetables and dips hours of being open and closed. Plan snacks but ready. Have snacks prepared at eye level in the don’t let the snacking go on too long. Children fridge for easy access. Make snacks visually are supposed to feel hunger, eat to feel satisfied appealing to entice children by setting them on a and wait to feel hunger again. Listening to colorful bowl or plate. internal hunger cues is important, and having structured meals and snacks promotes this. 3) Bags and Boxes of food: Your children always want chips, crackers, cookies and 5) Drinking your snack: Thirsty kids drink nothing else for snacks. their snack with a sugar-sweetened-beverage. Experiment with new fruits and vegetables! Try Offer foods with high water content like to engage kids and get them involved by making watermelon cantaloupe or grapefruit. Avoid yogurt parfaits. Take the kids to a farmers sugar sweetened beverages. Get your snacker to market, and let them pick new snacks. Try to help make popsicles with pureed fruit, include two food groups together in snacks such smoothies, spa water, and fruit kebobs. as nuts and fruit, veggies and dip, almond Adapted from http://jillcastle.com/ Watermelon Ice Cubes Enjoy this recipe for a party, a refreshing drink after exercise, or any given day of the week. These watermelon ice cubes not only make water fun, they also offer great taste and vitamins. Ingredients 1 small watermelon 1/2 cup cracked ice Instructions 1. Wash hands and watermelon. 2. Slice watermelon into large slices. 3. Remove seeds and rind. 4. In a blender, place cracked ice and watermelon. Blend until the mixture looks like a slushy. 5. Grab an ice cube tray and pour slushy into each square. 6. Freeze for at least one hour. 7. Serve with water! Use as ice cubes for added color and flavor. Adapted from www.choosemyplate.gov/downloads/celebrate/Recipes Page 3 Summer 2015 Fuel Their Minds Activity Kits Free From the University of California CONTACTS You can help impact childhood obesity, fitness, and malnutrition. Local, state, and federal initiatives (and funding) urge a coordinated approach to addressing these issues. The University of California has prepared activity kits to help you teach nutrition, health, and physical activity concepts to your children, while integrating math, language, and science concepts that address CDE standards. Kimberly Prado 530-666-8720 [email protected] These lessons come “ready-made” with all of the materials to teach a fun and interactive lesson. The curriculum was developed by the University of California. We will bring the materials to you, free of charge. We can provide trainings and additional resources to increase your confidence in these topics. We can also plan classroom food-themed cooking clubs, special events, and other fun sessions. ANR NONDISCRIMINATION AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION POLICY STATEMENT FOR UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PUBLICATIONS REGARDING PROGRAM PRACTICES – July, 2013 It is the policy of the University of California (UC) and the UC Division of Agriculture & Natural Resources not to engage in discrimination against or harassment of any person in any of its programs or activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender expression, gender identity, pregnancy (which includes pregnancy, childbirth, and medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth), physical or mental disability, medical condition (cancer-related or genetic characteristics), genetic information (including family medical history), ancestry, marital status, age, sexual orientation, citizenship, or service in the uniformed services (as defined by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA), as well as state military and naval service. This policy is intended to be consistent with the provisions of applicable state and federal laws and University policies. University policy also prohibits retaliation against any employee or person in any of its programs or activities for bringing a complaint of discrimination or harassment pursuant to this policy. This policy also prohibits retaliation against a person who assists someone with a complaint of discrimination or harassment, or participates in any manner in an investigation or resolution of a complaint of discrimination or harassment. Retaliation includes threats, intimidation, reprisals, and/or adverse actions related to employment or to any of its programs or activities. In addition, it is the policy of the University and ANR to undertake affirmative action, consistent with its obligations as a Federal contractor, for minorities and women, for persons with disabilities, and for covered veterans. The University commits itself to apply every good faith effort to achieve prompt and full utilization of minorities and women in all segments of its workforce where deficiencies exist. These efforts conform to all current legal and regulatory requirements, and are consistent with University standards of quality and excellence. In conformance with Federal regulations, written affirmative action plans shall be prepared and maintained by each campus of the University, including the Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Such plans shall be reviewed and approved by the Office of the President and the Office of the General Counsel before they are officially promulgated. Inquiries regarding the University’s equal employment opportunity policies may be directed to Linda Marie Manton, Affirmative Action Contact, University of California, Davis, Agriculture and Natural Resources, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, (530) 752-0495. “Our mandate as a land grant institute ties us to the welfare, development, and protection of the state’s land, resources, and people. Our mission is to develop and extend the use of research-based knowledge to improve specific practices and technologies.” Christie Hedrick Angela Asch Sonia Fernandez Marcel Horowitz Fuel Their Mind Nutrition Newsletter Enclosed 1-877-847-3663. Funded by USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and University of California Cooperative Extension. The SNAP program provides nutrition assistance to people with low income. It can help you buy nutritious food for a better diet. To find out more, call “Our mandate as a land grant institution ties us to the welfare, development, and protection of the state’s land, resources, and people. Our mission is to develop and extend the use of research-based knowledge to improve specific practices and technologies.” UCCE Yolo County 70 Cottonwood Street Woodland, CA 95695